Founded in 1949 in the heart of San Diego, USD has grown to become a premier institution dedicated to providing academic excellence, Catholic intellectual and social traditions, and a top-notch liberal arts education for scholars of all faiths. USD is committed to the intellectual, spiritual, and overall development of its student body.

USD’s mission captures the values that have made it a prominent Catholic university, a vibrant institution of quality higher education, and an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus.

A USD education combines the vibrancy of the liberal arts with academic rigor in a supportive learning community. USD offers a wide variety of majors and specializations, allowing students to pursue their passions. Faculty members are distinguished scholars and devoted teachers who promote an interactive learning environment.

Faculty collaborate one-on-one with undergraduate and graduate students on research, scholarship and creative activity, allowing students to experience the excitement of original discovery.

USD’s emphasis on academic excellence, intellectual rigor and global citizenship showcases our commitment to each student. USD offers the intellectual environment that will inspire you to begin shaping your future. By becoming a Torero, you are becoming part of the more than 60-year-long history of dedicated Changemakers.

Our students strive for academic excellence and take great pride in serving their communities. At USD, students learn to think critically, act globally and work collaboratively to achieve their full potential.

USD offers students endless opportunities to connect with the campus, the community, and each other. With nearly 200 clubs and organizations, countless sports and residence hall activities, guest lectures, community service opportunities and wellness programs, Toreros have every resource necessary to maximize their USD experience.

USD has an active, thriving campus community. In addition to its sublime setting — enhanced by an average 300 days of sunshine each year — USD offers students an abundance of academic programs, facilities and resources.

Even to the casual eye, it's apparent that the campus runs like a well-oiled machine, in large part due to our hard working team members, all dedicated to making sure that the USD student experience is reflective of the distinctive quality that the university is known for.

More than 1500 full-time and 750 part-time employees worked at USD in 2011, in capacities ranging from faculty to food service to administration to groundskeeper.

The USD community is comprised of many diverse individuals. To assist with the various aspects of personal and professional development, the university provides various offices, programs and services. Gateways provides links to some of the areas that might be of interest to you.

From the moment you step on our beautiful campus you can see that USD is exceptional.

There’s more that connects the San Diego and Tijuana region than the border crossing used by thousands every day. For years, many organizations have come together to address environmental issues that are commonly shared across border lines.

Urban streams on both sides of the border have had incredibly high concentrations of contaminants that have flowed to wetlands and beaches in San Diego. Pollution poses immediate hazards like raw sewage and polluted rainwater that flows across the international border. There’s also concern that local groundwater quantity and dependence on imported water has declined, as well as increased erosion and flood dangers, air pollution, and a reduction in the amount of safe, open and green areas.

The Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego has convened environmental experts, policymakers, scientists and community leaders for the first bi-national conference to address these issues. “Greening Borders: Cooperation, Security and Diplomacy,” is from Nov. 18-20 at the School of Peace Studies and Tijuana River Estuary Visitor Center.

The goal of the conference is to:

• explore trans-boundary water management approaches from around the world to inspire multi-level and interdisciplinary dialogue locally• engage in interactive working sessions that improve conflict management/resolution skills• welcome diverse perspectives from both sides of the border • recognize and build on previous regional and local initiatives• participate in consensus-building workshops to identify shared priorities • strive towards securing political support and funding

International negotiator and best-selling author William Ury, Ph.D. is the keynote speaker for the conference. Ury is the co-founder of the Harvard University Negotiation Project and co-author of “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.” His address, entitled “From the Boardroom to the Border: Negotiating for Sustainable Agreements,” is at 7 p.m., Nov. 18, at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre.

Ury has served as a negotiation adviser and mediator in conflicts ranging from corporate mergers to wildcat strikes in a Kentucky coal mine to ethnic wars in the Middle East, the Balkans, and the former Soviet Union. With former president Jimmy Carter, he cofounded the International Negotiation Network, a non-governmental body seeking to end civil wars around the world. He has taught negotiation to tens of thousands of corporate executives, labor leaders, diplomats and military officers around the world. He helps organizations endeavor to reach mutually profitable agreements with customers, suppliers, unions, and joint-venture partners.

The Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies (KSPS) was formally inaugurated in 2007 at the University of San Diego, the result of a generous endowment from the late Joan Kroc, who believed passionately in not only teaching peace, but in “making peace.” The School incorporates two institutes, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice and the Trans-Border Institute, and a new Master’s Degree program designed to train the next generation of international peacemakers.

The KSPS is dedicated to advancing the field of peace studies and a world-view of peace as human development. The school is home to a dialogue and a discipline of scholars and practitioners immersed and educated in peace as philosophy, methodology and creative act. It is currently the only school of its kind dedicated to this purpose in the United States.